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Mortian War
Mortian War The Mortian War (historically called the War Against the Orcs, and also known as the Great War of the Second Age) was the longest continuous war ever fought in Nesaria. It was fought between the Orcish Chiefdom of Mortia and a coalition led by the Kingdom of Ascaria. Although there was no official break in the war, there were several periods of peace where little to no fighting took place. The war is split into four "phases" of fighting by historians, each one distinguished by the ascension of a new King of Ascaria, with a brief period of peace between them. King Hegaros I declared war upon the Chiefdom of Mortia in January of 551BC, shortly after Mortia had received the surrender of the King of Zathol, with the official aim of liberating the Humans under Orcish rule, but in reality the war was the result of long-standing tensions and the mutual desire of both sides to annihilate the other to achieve dominance over Nesaria. Over the centuries, the historical account of the war has been subject to change from intense Ascarian propaganda, resulting in a great many twisted truths or outright lies about the war that were specifically intended to demonise the Mortians and justify the war and the subsequent genocide. The war is often portrayed as Humans liberating their brethren from warmongering Orcish tyrants, but in reality, the war was fuelled more by cultural conflict than anything racial. Although Ascaria and Mortia were the primary actors, and in an immediate sense it was Humans fighting Orcs, in broader terms the war was between the Elvic Elvetans and the native pagans. Far from seeing the Orcs as oppressors, most native Nesarians saw Mortia as their champion against the Elvic states, seeing them as the defenders of the native way of life when the Elvic states were determined to replace it with their own. The Elvic states, for their part, feared being destroyed by Mortia (as Mortia had established a reputation of expelling or killing Elvic aristocracy to make way for natives) and were repulsed and terrified by the prospect of slavery, so they largely sided with Ascaria. This page is currently being reworked. Nothing below this point is strictly canon. Hegarosian Phase Shortly after formally declaring war, King Hefglar I assembled an army in 549BC and sailed across Lake Jerumtine. However, the messenger he sent ahead of him in a small fast boat was killed by a roaming Leviathan, and the Zatholians, upon hearing of Hefglar's arrival, assumed he was invading and hastily assembled an army to meet him. Hefglar assumed this army had risen up to help him against the Orcs, and when the two met there was a great deal of confusion, but the Zatholian army eventually agreed to put themselves under the command of Hefglar when they heard he planned to march against the Orcs. The King of Zathol learned of this event a few days later, and he formally joined Hefglar in an alliance against the Orcs, although he refused to put himself under Hefglar's control. Hegaros marched his army to the borderlands and took revenge for the Tragedy of Allesvane, attacking and slaughtering two small towns. All the Orcish settlements in the region except those with strong walls evacuated back to Mortia, and Hegaros was free to raze and plunder the Orcish colonies. He spent many years besieging the more well-defended Mortian settlements, although progress was slow and often not successful, and once his supplies began to dwindle he retreated back to Ascaria in 547BC. In 540BC, Chief Hagakh Vanovuk was elected, and he began a far more aggressive policy in the war, raising large warbands. He reclaimed the borderlands after hearing rumours of abundant iron ore, and he began vast mining operations. After securing the borderlands, he marched directly on Zathol and laid siege to it, conquering and sacking the city after just a few months. Hegaros, panicked by this, immediately began raising another army, but he was met with resistance by the unwilling nobles, delaying the expedition until late 538BC. Hegaros met Hagakh at the Battle of Vanesca in 537BC, which was a pyrrhic victory. With greatly reduced numbers and morale, he was unable to continue the campaign and retreated back to Ascaria. Although Ascaria was not out of the war, Hefglar took no further action as Zathol was eventually overrun by Mortia. In 530BC, Hefglar died. First Faltassian Phase Hegaros' successor, King Faltas I, took his time consolidating his power and kept the fragile peace. He also believed that securing a lasting and mutually beneficial peace between the Humans and Orcs was still possible. There were some Orcs who wanted peace and who believed Chief Hagakh was trying to establish a monarchy in a traditionally republican system. In 525BC, 3000 of these rebel Orcs came to Faltas, seeking a place to settle where they could live peacefully. He gave them a place in Wallshire where they could settle, which he called Manar. However, the natives believed these Orcs were secretly allies of Hagakh who wanted to undermine the Kingdom from inside, and they attacked Manar, slaughtering every inhabitant. Faltas was unable to chase down the ringleaders of the attack and bring them to justice, and his denunciation of the attack led to such public outrage that two people attempted to assassinate him. Faltas went to the Kingdom of Eshér for help against the Orcs, but he found a realm at war with itself, with five pretenders vying for control of the throne after the death of King Vanaesan. Faltas met with the most powerful and seemingly most legitimate claimant, "Queen" Calia I, and formed an alliance with her. He intervened in the civil war to help her in return for help against the Orcs later on. Faltas joined Calia in the Battle of Setherios in 520BC, and Calia's victory led to her being declared Queen of Eshér. A relationship steadily developed between the two, and they announced their marriage in 517BC. In the same year, the Kingdom of Eshér joined the coalition against the Orcs, although many of their battlemages had been killed in the civil war. In 512BC, Hagakh died, and his successor and son - Yotog - was "elected". Faltas assembled an army to march on Mortia, although he planned on demanding peace negotiations rather than going into battle. The messenger he sent to ask for peace was killed, and Faltas met Yotog in the Battle of Nazdakog in 511BC. Faltas died in the battle, and although he had produced an heir with Calia before his death, she was still young, so Calia ruled as Queen Regent. She united the Kingdoms of Ascaria and Eshér (although the Eshérians hated being under the rule of Ascaria after Calia's abdication). Calia assembled a large army and marched on Mortia, decisively defeating the Orcs at the second Battle of Nazdakog in 510BC, avenging her husband. She captured Yotog and planned to publicly execute him in Ascaria, but he committed suicide while in captivity. Draeg, Yotog's son, took the reigns of Mortia and formally established a monarchy. He assembled a large army and intimidated Calia into retreating back to Ascaria (she had achieved her goal of vengeance anyway). Another uneasy peace came into effect, as the Orcs occasionally led small raids into Human territory but no major battles took place. Sathinic Phase In 495BC, Queen Sathina I came of age and so Calia abdicated. She improved the state of the Ascaria Warriors and assembled an army using her new Warriors and levies drawn from the north, and sailed to Zatholshire. However, her intent was not to fight the Orcs. She occupied Zathol and demanded the loyalty of the King, promising to abandon the Zatholians if he refused. Understandably he agreed to become a vassal, and, in an event often referenced by comedians later on, Sathina berated the King for his cowardice. She then marched on the Orcs and got involved in a few small battles with mixed results. Her intent was to bait the Orcs into marching eastward towards Dongrishire. Once they reached the border, Sathina went to Dongris and demanded the loyalty of the King there, who also agreed to become a subject, and once again Sathina berated the King for his cowardice. Sathina planned to continue the campaign but she developed a serious tumour which she learned would kill her quickly. She retreated to Ascaria and rapidly trained her son, Faltas, to be King. She died in 480BC, and almost simultaneously, Chief Draeg died and Chief Rogrun Vanovuk ascended to the throne. Rogrun immediately began to modernise and improve Mortia, rapidly transforming it from an unruly barbarian chiefdom to a professional kingdom with trained and disciplined soldiers to rival the legendary Ascarian Warriors. Second Faltassian Phase Also known as the Great War of the Second Age The Second Faltassian Phase was the largest and deadliest phase of the war. King Faltas II was inexperienced and tentative upon his ascension to the throne - he was only 15 and had to rely on his two chief advisors, Yaesan Samaeris (an Eshérian Elf) and Davsyan Racorus (an Infrian). The northern Nesarians were tired of a war which they did not believe affected them by this point, and Faltas struggled to find support among the people or the nobility. Recruits were in short supply, although he still had the army left over from Sathina's reign. Faltas also did not have the support of Eshér, which seemed ready to openly revolt and was ready for peace with Mortia, which had not actually attacked them yet. Exploiting the unsteadiness of the new monarch, Chief Rogrun launched a lightning-fast invasion of the entire south with his new professional army, occupying two-thirds of it by 479. In that same year he also paid Eshér a large sum of money and created a non-aggression pact in return for free passage through the land. Upon hearing this, Faltas knew he had lost control of Eshér, but also feared a raid on Cortathshire. He ordered his army to spread out across the border between Cortathshire and Eshérshire, split up into small detachments and maintaining a short distance from each other, which would prevent the Orcish army from sneaking through and allow any detachment which was attacked to quickly gain reinforcements from nearby friendly forces. However, his army did not listen, and divided itself into three larger groups which randomly roamed the countryside. The Orcs managed to isolate and surround one of these armies, completely slaughtering it to the last man. The public blamed Faltas for the shocking defeat, and the embarrassed army commanders were fired. However, it was a propaganda victory in Cortathshire and eastern regions of Infrishire, as they began to see the Orcish threat as real. Faltas personally went to drum up support in these regions and went to Eshérshire, training the recruits on the march. However, the Eshérians, who no longer recognised Faltas as King, said that they would not let him through without payment. Faltas, who was not willing and not capable of paying the extortionate price, and also unable to fight his way through, decided to attack the south from Lake Jerumtine instead. Upon hearing this news, Mortia started to build a navy in order to stop the Ascarians crossing the lake. Faltas did not have enough ships to fight the new Orcish navy, and the few he had were transport ships and not warships, so he too had to construct a navy. He lacked funds, however, so he was forced to essentially enslave woodcutters and carpenters to build a large fleet, which created a huge public outcry and nearly caused a full-scale revolt against his rule. Faltas gave a speech in Ascaria trying to explain that the ends justified the means, but most were unconvinced. He then gave the promise that all the workers would be paid once he had successfully liberated the south and looted Orcish land. This had a slightly better response, but many were still disgruntled. With the carpenters working at full speed around the clock, the fleet was completed in 478, and Faltas loaded 2/3 of his army, commanded by Davsyan Racorus, onto 2/3 of the fleet. He met and engaged the Mortian navy in the Battle of Lake Jerumtine, which was nearly a defeat but turned into a close victory after the remaining 1/3 of the fleet (commanded by Faltas) arrived upon hearing of the dire situation of the rest of the fleet. Faltas took command of the whole fleet and chased down the Mortian ships at full speed, destroying as many as he could in order to establish permanent Ascarian naval supremacy. Faltas landed in Zatholshire and began to liberate the region, drawing thousands of recruits from the region. He engaged Chief Rogrun himself in the Battle of Camotheris, which was a Ascarian defeat, and Faltas was seriously wounded in the battle, meaning they had to retreat back to Ascaria. Once he had healed, Faltas set about improving and expanding the army, creating the Faltassian Cavalry and going to great lengths to improve the training of the Ascarian Warriors. After learning in 477 that strange noises were being heard in the Ascarian mines, and re-learning rumours of the Dungors, he led an expedition in the mines to find the fabled underground land of Dungoria, which he found. He negotiated an alliance with the Great King of the Dungors, Doka Råkomen, and the vast Dungorian army joined the (by this point, already large) Ascarian army. Faltas marched again to Eshér in 476, which buckled to his demands after seeing his vast army, and reluctantly joined forces with him. Faltas once again met Chief Rogrun in the Battle of Cothea, decisively defeating the Orcs and sending the bulk of the Orcish army fleeing into their castles and forts. Faltas spent several years in a gruelling campaign of sieges, systematically liberating each southern town, castle and city. Once the Orcish presence was reduced to a minimal level, Faltas turned his attention on Mortia itself, fighting Chief Rogrun in the Battle of Mortia Pass in 470, which was a decisive Mortian victory. Faltas was forced to retreat back to the north, although he destroyed much of the fortifications in the south before leaving, so that the Orcs could not use them. With his momentum shattered, it took Faltas another three years to assemble a force large enough to march to the south again (in 467), and the Eshérians were losing hope in Faltas and were getting ready to declare independence again. By this point, Chief Rogrun had assembled an extraordinarily large army. Faltas encountered a series of minor skirmishes in the south, making his way to Mortia to lay siege to it. Chief Rogrun did not meet him in open battle, reportedly due to a temporary sickness. Faltas laid siege to and began hurling rocks at the formidable Gate of Mortia, a thick and apparently impenetrable wall that guarded passage into Mortia. The siege lasted until 463, by which point Faltas and his soldiers were desperate for a fight. The huge and brutal Battle of Mortia ensued, in which Rogrun was killed and his army was routed. Most of the Orcs laid down their arms, and the few still within the Mortian Citadel surrendered after a week-long siege. Aftermath After the extremely decisive Battle of Mortia and Rogrun's death, the Chiefdom of Mortia unconditionally surrendered to King Faltas II. Almost immediately, the Mortian Genocide began, and Mortian culture was heavily suppressed. The Mortian Orcs, too weakened by the war and Ascarian occupation, were utterly unable to fight back, and were slaughtered. After Faltas, his wife and his children all met grisly ends, there were no surviving members of the royal line and so the Nesarian Republic was established, which would be replaced by the Nesarian Empire 364 years later by Emperor Mathados IV (which would rapidly fragment and then be re-formed 93 years later). Military Developments During the war, especially in the Second Faltassian Phase, both sides extensively made use of each other's military strategies and technologies. Examples include Chief Rogrun Vanovuk employing pike formations modelled on the Eshérian Hoplites, and King Faltas II using the idea of drums and cadence calls to keep the soldiers marching in time, which the Mortians came up with, and was exceptionally useful for formation-based warfare.